The autonomous car that Fiat, BMW and Intel are preparing

BMW, Intel, Mobileye and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) join forces on the road to autonomous driving. The four companies have signed a “memorandum of understanding” for Fiat to join the development of a leading and leading-edge autonomous driving platform worldwide. In this way, each of them will take advantage of the individual capacities and resources of the rest, with the aim of improving autonomous driving technology and reducing time to market.

The Fiat Group will provide the engineering, technical resources and experience, in addition to its sales volume, geographic reach and its long experience in North America. According to Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FCA, “integrating this cooperation will enable FCA to benefit directly from the synergies and economies of scale that are possible when companies join together with a common vision and goal.

The future of automotive industry

In July 2016, BMW, Intel and Mobileye announced their partnership to make autonomous cars a reality, collaborating to develop Level 3 autonomous driving solutions, highly automated, and level 4/5, fully automated driving, to enter Production in the year 2021. Since then, they have been working on the design and development of an architecture that can be used by several car manufacturers, while maintaining the individual identity of each one.

The goal is to put 40 autonomous test vehicles on the street later this year. Also, benefit from the data and learning gained through the fleet of 100 Level 4 test vehicles recently announced by Mobileye, a company belonging to the Intel group. In the words of Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, “The future of transportation depends on the leaders of the automotive and technology industry working together to develop an architecture that car manufacturers around the world can adopt and customize.”

Shares of Fiat Chrysler have extended the gains to 3.2% after reports that Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motor was interested in bidding for the automaker. “We currently intend to buy. We are interested in Fiat Chrysler,” said a company spokesman. Great Wall Motor seems to be particularly interested in the Fiat Jeep brand.